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Campaigns: Global initiative against War Profiteers

War profiteers are making a killing from war!

This is the index page for the Global Initiative against War Profiteers. For war resisters, war profiteering is wrong not only because it generates profit, mostly for private companies, but because it is one of the causes of war. The page that you are now reading is meant mainly as an index to online resources rather than as a comprehensive description of the campaign.

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War Profiteers' News provides information on the new developments on arms trade; the increasing role of private companies in the outsourcing of the military and private financial institutions as they profit from the arms trade. It appears bimonthly in English and Spanish, and is available in two formats: email and static web versions.

On 15 April there were more than 120 actions worldwide as part of the Global Day of Action on Military Spending, an initiative coordinated by the International Peace Bureau (IPB). The day of action coincided with the annual release of SIPRI's figures on military spending. According to SIPRI, in the last year there was a slight decrease (0.5%) of the world military expenditure. However, China - the second largest spender in 2012 - increased its expenditure by 7.8 per cent ($11.5 billion). Russia - the third largest spender - increased its expenditure by 16 per cent ($12.3 billion). Annual world military spending continues at around $1.5 trillion dollars.

1. A good starting point is the website of the ministry of defense and of the military

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Two new projects featuring a broken AK-47 (based on WRI's famous broken rifle logo), have been created by artist Ralph Ziman in Los Angeles and Cape Town. The mural in Los Angeles featured 408 names of victims of gun violence, while the Cape Town piece was painted in the middle of the Manenberg district, an area of Cape Town that has endured years of gang violence.

Construction gate blockadedOn Monday 2nd March, members of the European Antimilitarist Network and hundreds of activists from across the British isles rose early and prepared for a mass blockade of Burghfield Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) - Burghfield Lockdown Burghfield is one of the sites where the British government builds and maintains the nuclear warheads that are fundamental to the Trident nuclear weapons system (alongside Aldermast

European Antimilitarist Network members meeting before Burghfield Lockdown

25 international peace activists from Finland, Sweden, and Belgium travelling on a coach from Finland to Burghfield in Berkshire to take part in the Burghfield Lockdown blockade planned for Monday 2 March were stopped and searched under Schedule 7 Terrorism Act by British anti-terror police in Calais on 28 February 2015. The pacifists from groups including the Union of Conscientious Objectors Finland (AKL), ofog in Sweden and Agir pour la Paix in Belgium are part of a group of more than 40 European activist who will take part in the blockade of AWE Burghfield on Monday 2 March 2015, to build up pressure against the renewal of Britain’s Trident nuclear weapon system [1].

GDAMS 2014 action on the Canary IslandsThe Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) is an annual, international day of action against the huge expenditure by governments across the world on militaries, this year taking place on the 13th April 2015. Last year, the Latin America Antimilitarist Network released a statement demanding that resources are invested in society, not the military. As in previous years, WRI will be supporting the day, and inviting affiliates from across the world to take action to challenge to challenge spending on the military in their own context.

On 10 February groups in South Korea (World Without War), Turkey (Ban Tear Gas Initiative), the UK (Campaign Against Arms Trade and War Resisters' International) took action to demand that a shipment of South Korean tear gas to Turkey be stopped. In recent years, Turkey has repeatedly abused the rights of protesters with the weaponised use of tear gas at demonstrations. But despite human rights concerns, South Korea have issued export licences granting the export of nearly 1.65 million tear gas canisters and grenades to Turkey. At the action in Istanbul protesters were met by riot police, in the words of one of the organisers: "In front of the Korean embassy, 2 full buses of armed riot police, 1 water cannon vehicle, 10 cars of undercover cops were waiting. The consulate general is in a plaza and they didn't let us in. After the protest, the police tried to block us from entering but we reached the Korean embassy employees and delivered the letter to them. Too many press were with us!" (see photos).

In recent years, Turkey has repeatedly abused the rights of protesters with the weaponised use of tear gas at demonstrations. But despite human rights concerns, South Korea has authorised a huge shipment of tear gas to Turkey. On 10 February, Ban Tear Gas Initiative (Turkey), Campaign Against Arms Trade (UK), War Resisters' International and World Without War (South Korea) carried out actions in Seoul, Istanbul and London to stop the shipment! (see photos).

On January 5 I was part of a small group of four people that entered RAF Waddington, the home of UK drone warfare, to protest the growing use of armed drones. British RAF pilots began operating armed US Predator drones in Iraq just over ten years ago before the UK acquired its own Reaper drones in 2007 for use in Afghanistan. Since then UK pilots have launched hundreds of drone strikes in Afghanistan before returning to Iraq, in November 2014, to begin launching strikes there once again. Along with the US and Israel, the UK is a key proponent of the idea of remote ‘risk free’ warfare.

In Venezuela, the left and the right agree on one thing – it is a country which is very rich in oil and mining reserves which must be sold as quickly as possible, ignoring the social and environmental consequences of further using the development model based on extractivism.